I read The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy 26 or 27 years ago...so memories were faint enough that I was entertained by the LOTR movies, although some purists I know were mortified by them. In preparation for The Hobbit movie, I just bought all 4 books off Google Play Books and have started reading. I've just passed the adventure with the barrels in the river in the Hobbit book, and now I find out that they are splitting the book into three movies . So I guess, since I am going to see the film on Thursday, that I don't have to worry about finishing the book before then.

I know many people can't handle movie adaptations of books....and it's true that many of them have been failures over the years. I, however, can separate and enjoy both, if the movie is well done....(example, the first three Bourne movies, which varied wildy from the books but the movies were still entertaining).....so I am hopeful this beginning chapter of The Hobbit will be good. I don't know yet which version I will be seeing....

Just saw the movie ( 3D and HFR) and i must say i`m impressed. To be honest i wasn`t expecting much since i haven`t read the book, but i`m happy to say it won me totally over. All the actors did a great job, but i just loved how Freeman played the part of Bilbo. 3D has never looked better and the 48 Frames per second were super good.

Just saw the movie ( 3D and HFR) and i must say i`m impressed. To be honest i wasn`t expecting much since i haven`t read the book, but i`m happy to say it won me totally over. All the actors did a great job, but i just loved how Freeman played the part of Bilbo. 3D has never looked better and the 48 Frames per second were super good.

I had the reverse reaction. There's a limit to how real you want to get, and the HFR version went way beyond IMO.

Technically the White Council has all the members shown in the movie, including Radagast, and perhaps a couple more. So nothing wrong in showing the meeting of the council. Its not actively pursued in the book I think.

Technically the White Council has all the members shown in the movie, including Radagast, and perhaps a couple more. So nothing wrong in showing the meeting of the council. Its not actively pursued in the book I think.

I don't believe the necromancer is actually that big of a deal in the book either(its been a while since I've read the book), but I do recall (*Spoiler Alert*) Gandalf ends up battling the necromancer and I think that's going to be a large part of the second movie because the necromancer is actually Sauron.

I don't believe the necromancer is actually that big of a deal in the book either(its been a while since I've read the book), but I do recall (*Spoiler Alert*) Gandalf ends up battling the necromancer and I think that's going to be a large part of the second movie because the necromancer is actually Sauron.

Yes, Sauron encounters Gandalf at Dol Guldur and flees but there's not much of a fight. However that's where Thrain gave the maps of the lonely mountain to Gandalf, after his ring was taken by Sauron. Later the Nazguls attack to reclaim the hill. I'm not sure if it happens before or after the events in the Hobbit.

Got to see it finally only the 24 hz 3D version. Well done of COURSE but as shallow you could expect. Doubt I will buy the blurays but can see a Christmas tradition coming it does hold up for one viewing.

some weird stuff. Golf joke? Why are some dwarves human?

As for 3D just another proof of you shouldn't see any movie Shot with 3D cameras in any less then 24P 3D though it wasa bit understated.

Finally got a chance to see it this weekend, saw the imax 3D instead of the HFR 3D because I easily get motion sickness and some reviews says to stay away from the HFR is you have vertigo. As for the movie, it was okay. Maybe my expectation was a bit high but it didn't do it for me like the Fellowship Of The Ring did. Still a great movie but didn't live up to what I thought it was.

Some of the "fluff" that's in the Hobbit came from the Silmarillion, it adds a nice flavor and some background.

Glad someone else caught that. And in all honesty, it's what we should have expected.

The Hobbit movie isn't just going to contain the information from the hobbit book, it's also going to be laced with tie ins to LOTR, as well as background from the Silmarillion, songs/poems from the same "world" and for all we know maybe some new plot lines based in norse mythology, where a lot of the background for "middle earth" came from, especially the information on the dwarves. This is likely (and I hope) the last set of movies we'll get detailing the ongoings of middle earth. There's a LOT of ground to cover there.

It appears that this film trilogy is very much an action oriented interpretation of the book. Nevermind the script, the general feel and pacing of the former hardly resembles the latter. This was true for the first film, even more so for the second, and probably the final one as well.

I enjoyed seeing Azog and Thranduil the most last year.

This year I liked the Dale smuggling scenes best. No standout characters but I thought the dialogue between Bilbo and Smaug was definitely worth seeing.